


Selfish

by macosa



Category: RWBY
Genre: Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Kidnapping, M/M, Ruby is so close to her inevitable breaking point, reincarnation shenanigans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:01:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25245082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/macosa/pseuds/macosa
Summary: Atlas is in ruins.Oscar offers himself as a sacrifice to the Grimm.Somehow, he materializes Ozpin, so he and Ruby decide to go after him.
Relationships: James Ironwood & Ozpin, Jaune Arc & Oscar Pine, Oscar Pine/Ruby Rose, Ozpin & Oscar Pine, Ozpin & Ruby Rose, Qrow Branwen/Ozpin, past unrequieted Qrow/Summer and Ozpin/Summer
Comments: 60
Kudos: 131





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by my friend Stonehill.
> 
> I'm sorry, Louie, this isn't exactly what you were talking about! :'D

_**R**_ uby didn't need to look at the faces of her team mates to know that her own surprised and terrified expression was reflected in theirs.

In front of her, just where Oscar had stood before, offering himself to the Grimm, stood her former mentor and Headmaster of Beacon.

Ozpin was looking at his own hands, a serious look in his eyes the likes of which she had never seen on his features before.

But the moment of surprise that had overtook them like a spell immediately broke.

"Where's Oscar?!" Jaune shouted.

He hurried to their former teacher and seized him by his turtleneck. Apparently, he wasn't an illusion.

"Where **THE HELL** is Oscar! What have you done to him?!"

Ruby didn't even need to order Jaune to back down, because although they were all seized with worry, they had seen him being carried away by Grimm just seconds ago and she doubted Ozpin had anything to do with it, Ozpin himself, calmly but with a hint of fury in his gaze, simply took Jaune's hands away from him in a simple motion.

"I have not done anything to him".

"Then why are you here?" shouted Yang, from behind Ruby.

"Enough about him! We have to go after Oscar!" Nora was shouting.

They needed to calm down.

Ruby tapped Crescent Rose on the ground, just like she had seen Maria do with he cane. Everyone immediately fell silent and turned their heads to her.

"You've got it backwards, Jaune: Ozpin isn't here because he has done something to Oscar. It's because Oscar was taken away that Ozpin's here".

Jaune backed away from Ozpin and everyone stared at their shoes, aggression dissipating, but worry still holding them. 

"I believe you are correct, Miss Rose" said Ozpin, adjousting his turtleneck.

"Oh, you _DON'T_ know?" Jaune was starting again. Ruby sighed.

"No, I do not" said Ozpin, firmly. "I realize why it sounds like a lie to your ears, but I can only swear to you that I would never lie where Oscar is concerned".

He looked at Ruby, sternly.

"I do not intend to seize control from you, but I believe we must go after him at once. I do believe that I'm still linked to Oscar in a way, but I cannot read his thoughts at the moment but I'm-" 

His voice seemed to break for a millisecond and Ruby was probably the only one who noticed, but Ozpin immediately composed himself a moment later.

"- Not in a hurry to discover what Salem wants to do to him".

Ruby nodded. Her mouth tasted dangerously of bile at the mere thought of having lost Oscar and being unable to do anything about it, but she had to maintain her composure - her façade - as long as she was in front of her team.

"My hypothesis is that you being here is proof enough that Oscar is still fine, for the moment" she told Ozpin. He nodded in return.

"I can only guess. Or hope. Nothing like this has ever happened to any of my companions before".

Ruby weighed her options for a moment.

Oscar had been carried away by an incredibly fast flying Grimm, but speed was her specialty. If they went now, they could reach him before the unthinkable happened.

But Atlas and Mantle needed rebuilding. Qrow was at the hospital (and for a moment, Ruby was glad of it: if he had been here, he would have blamed himself for Oscar being taken), Penny was going around trying to find Ironwood (praying he was still alive) and searching for people in need of assistance, and she couldn't do it alone.

"I will go after Oscar with Ozpin" Ruby told her friends. "You guys stay here and help".

Just as she had predicted, a roar of objections and disappointed rose from her friends at once.

Ruby just turned on her heels and started walking away, Ozpin at her side and voices shouting behind them.

"Ruby, take me with you!" Jaune. _"Oscar is my partner! Please!"_

"We are coming with you!" Blake.

"You are _such_ an idiot! You realize that going alone is suicide, right?" Weiss.

And just as Yang was starting to plead her baby sister not to leave without her, Ruby activated her Semblance, surrounded Ozpin and herself in a storm of petals and flew.

* * *

"I do not need to eat and sleep" he had told her. "I appear to be made of Aura. But you still need to, Miss Rose". 

And he had forced her to stop and take refuge somewhere in a forest. She didn't know where she was currently and only hoped that Grimm also needed to rest. The more time passed, the more a voice in her head whispered to her that this was useless, that she had lost Oscar, another loved one claimed by Salem's claws, and Ruby pushed that voice in the depths of her thoughts yet again. 

She was gonna break, eventually. But she couldn't break _now._

"Only for two hours" promised Ozpin. Ruby was tempted not to listen to him, but something in her gut just knew that he was just as concerned as she was - or hell, everyone was - if not more. "Then we can resume our mission".

He sat in front of her, by the fire she had made as she ate the awful canned meat, "Flood" it was called, Gods know why, that was so popular in Atlas after she had clumsily opened it with Crescent Rose.

Her scroll vibrated in her pocket. She took her out, saw that she had like a billion messages, all in the damn vocal chat that Pietro had installed in their scrolls, saw they were all by her friends and a few by Qrow who she presumed had been informed, and just decided to put her scroll on silent mode.

She knew she was betraying them, but it was too late to go back. Oscar needed to be saved before... she didn't even want to think about it.

"So, are you just Ozpin" she said, trying to start a conversation as she munched. "Or like, Ozma or a hundred different people in one?"

Ozpin joined his hands, in thought.

"If I told you I didn't know" he replied, adjusting his glasses on his nose with a finger. "Would you believe me?"

_Was that sass?_ If it was, it was the last thing Ruby needed at the moment.

"I reiterate" Ozpin continued, more gently. "That something like this has never happened to me - to us - before. I would lie if I said it's not somewhat scary". He chuckled.

Ruby put aside the canned meat. She would at least try to finish it, but later. The taste was just so awful, she couldn't help but compare it to their current predicament.

"Do you have any voices in your head, at the moment?" she asked.

Ozpin just smiled, a smile that was worth a thousand words.

"I'm purposefully procrastinating the moment where I'll have to self reflect and possibly listen to long unheard voices".

Welp. Whatever _that_ meant.

Ruby guessed that pursuing this topic more would only prolong the trainwreck that this conversation was, but she had nothing better to ask.

"So how do I call you? Ozpin? Ozma? Professor?"

When she said the last word, Ozpin laughed so hard he startled her.

"I thought I had lost the privilege of that title long ago!" and the madman was laughing so hard that he had to wipe a tear from his eye. Ruby had never experienced a fever dream before, yet that was the only way she would use to describe this whole experience.

Ozpin composed himself, yet again.

"Just Ozpin, or Oz, is fine. No 'professor'. I'm the one taking orders from you now".

Ruby just raised an eyebrow at that statement.

"I'm serious" he clarified. "I have proven myself quite a terrible leader in the past, and now I'm leaving my students and my former friend James behind to search for my successor, who I couldn't save from being seized by the enemy".

Those words perfectly described Ruby's failure as a leader, yet she now knew the scorn she had felt in that sentence and from the very moment he had appeared in front of them was all directed at himself, not at her, not at her team.

Her scroll, still on silent mode, felt heavy on her pocket, heavier than Crescent Rose ever felt.

Ruby tried to shoo away all the thoughts of Oscar and her friends that, again, were flashing in front of her, to no avail.

She didn't like the sensation of tears in her eyes.

"Did you try to stop him?" he asked her former teacher. "Why did he offer himself?"

Any trace of smiles and humor disappeared from Ozpin's face.

"The boy is one of us, after all. I should have expected him to do something so foolish and useless yet so noble".

Ruby didn't even understand why Ozpin calling Oscar a fool would anger her like that. She was gonna remark, but he continued.

"And I'm not proud of how I couldn't seize control from him and stop him from being taken away. He knows our memories and knows Salem isn't going to be moved by any sacrifice. We have-" his hand trembled as he adjusted his glasses once more. "Offered ourselves up before. Nothing was gained. He knows that, but he still hopes".

He fell silent and Ruby didn't dare saying anything in return, too afraid that the tears she was holding would spill, after all. _She couldn't break._

Ozpin's voice sounded incredibly sad when he spoke again.

"I am glad you care about him this much".

Ruby was startled by the sudden blush that rose to her face without warning.

He had meant all of them, not her specifically! Stupid face!!!

"I'm glad you care about him too!" she hadn't intended to shout, but it was true that she was glad. She had always known that, despite his lies and flaws, the old soul had always cared for Oscar. For them.

He smiled.

"I think he would have liked I had shown him how much I care sooner. Maybe that is why he managed to manifest me like this. So he can punch me personally when he sees me again".

He closed his eyes and Ruby couldn't tell the emotions behind his tone.

"After all of this, I'm still being a lying, selfish bastard".

Ruby gazed down at her pocket where he scroll was. She thought, once again, of her team mates and uncle, and how, somehow, the thought of Oscar alone was capable of making her leave all of them behind.

"Yeah. Me too" she whispered.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you notice any mistakes in the English of this chapter, do tell me. Half of it has been beta read by a lovely friend who doesn't need any more bothering from me right now <3

_**H** e_ could only hear incessant screaming in his head.

He hadn't thought - hadn't wanted to think of - the possibility of there being even more voiced in his head.

And now those voices were as panicked as he desperately tried to pretend he wasn't.

He had felt something rip from him.

Between all those voices, he couldn't hear Ozpin, no matter how many times he whispered his name and his apologies. He had condemned him and them all to bear whatever fate that would await them.

  
Salem had surrounded him with some sort of magic barrier. Oscar assumed that its function was to have him not feel the need to eat or sleep, because the road from Atlas was long and he had to be carried by a flying monkey Grimm the whole time. 

He still felt dizzy about having to be carried several feet in the air. Still, he guessed he would have felt worse without the magic barrier. Thank Gods for Salem's small mercies! He would have rather preferred she had killed him on the spot - voices screaming, memories that weren't his whispering to him that she would drain it out and make it as painful as possible and he was scared scared **SCARED!** \- but he could also see Salem's face. She rode on a flying horse Grimm alongside him and couldn't see a trace of sadism in her. Rather... Confusion?

His thoughts were confirmed when they landed for the first time.

She maintained the barrier on him, seized by more monkeys and pushed to the ground, but she then spoke to him.

"Feel free to take a rest, if you want".

_Are you shitting me._

He glared at her, the voices now lowering to whispers.

"You have been quite brave to sacrifice yourself like that" she continued and Oscar only grew more terrified when he noticed that her tone was actually, genuinely kind. "You must know that I don't usually offer any mercy to that wretch, but I'm not so unkind as to torture a child".

_Yeah, my ass is unkind._

"In any case" and she threw her hands in the air as if she was having a real fucking conversation with a neighbor or something. "I admit that I wouldn't have been as kind if he had spoken up, but he seems to be conspicuously absent, is he not?".

Ah, so she had noticed at least the silent part of his problem.

She knelt in front of him and put a deadly cold hand under his chin. He sucked his breath, trying not to scream like the voices who now resumed their unbearable yelling.

"What is he doing?" she asked, a hilariously out of place puzzled look on her face.

"Hell if I know" he whimpered.

She put away her and and raised up again. Guess that answer was good enough for her.

They stayed on land more. Oscar dared to speak up.

"What are you waiting for?"

And then she smiled terribly. A monstrous smile that sent chill down his spine.

"I wouldn't want to be unfair to your little friends".

* * *

"Are you ok?"

Ozpin fiddled with his glasses, Ruby walking with an unsteady breath by his side. He tried to shut the voices his head again, to no avail.

"I am" he lied, knowing that she would notice he was lying. "Are you?"

"I am" she lied, knowing that he would notice she was lying. She was limping, exhausted after a day and half of flying by Semblance and walking when she couldn't fly anymore, and they weren't even at the border yet.

He had prayed they wouldn't have had to go that far, that they would reach Salem and her Grimm before that, but in case they had to cross the sea he had... Prepared... To call for his magic powers, but Gods, the screaming in his head was just unbearable and if he could muster any magic in this form he didn't know yet, all his secret attempts being shut down by fatigue, anxiety and the yelling.

"This might turn bad if we don't reach Salem before she crosses the ocean".

Ruby scoffed at him. 

"I know. That's why I told you we need to resume the chase immediately".

"You can barely walk" said Ozpin, not in a much better shape himself. "I don't think your Semblance alone can carry us across the sea".

"I know" Ruby replied, curt. "I was thinking of using your magic, if we don't find another ship to steal".

She looked around, as she frantically continued walking. It was painful for Ozpin to follow her at the same pace, but he did. They had purposefully travelled far from any village or city, but there had to be airships somewhere... Or were they all headed to Mantle, for assistance? Damn, they really couldn't have designed a worse plan, if you could even call it a plan.

"I had thought of using my magic too" said Ozpin, not hiding a smirk. Him, Ruby, Oscar... They truly all shared one braincell. "But since we departed I have tried, but I must admit I haven't been able to conjure any magical power. I think Oscar is the only one who can use our magic, right now".

Ruby made a frustrated sound.

"We'll think of something!" she exclaimed, taking her scroll out of her pocket. They had been following Oscar's signal - Pietro had installed on all their scrolls a GPS signal, to avoid any other... accident like what had happened right after the boy had been shot by James - and had noticed that the little yellow point had been stopping on its tracks regularly.

Ozpin wasn't really a fan of that. He knew what it meant. Salem was playing with them.

But they also had noticed other yellow dots following them, and after two days of travel, the distance had only began to shorten more and more.

In fact, Ruby was so annoyed because she could begin to hear the distant sound of an airship coming closer and closer.

"We should wait for them. It will be easier if we all go by airship".

Ruby continued to walk, not willing to throw the towel just yet.

Ozpin, now following behind her, shook his head amused. They both knew what a spectacular failure of a rescue mission this was, but he suspected Ruby's wounded pride was not the only thing that moved her now.

_Oh well,_ he thought. _They are going to reach us eventually, and when they do they will tear us an earful and we will all begin our mission anew._

Predictably, some time later, they heard a voice carried by the dusk.

" _HEY, ASSHOLES!_ " yelled Jaune Arc.

Ruby stubbornly limped on, but Ozpin turned around, letting out a heartful laugh.

His students, Mr. Arc included, were descending on them, each using their own landing strategy, and he couldn't help but be grateful that Oscar had found such loyal friends, always ready to save him and them by their own stupidity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's discuss the multiple elephants in the room.
> 
> First thing first: yes, now the fic is Mature rated, just to be sure. Not only the characters are being really potty-mouthed, but I also don't know how violent things may get (but don't worry, Oscar is not getting tortured). I may turn it back to teens and up, depending on how things go. 
> 
> And, yes, there's now a warning of major character death.  
> It's not Oscar or Ruby or Ozpin, and it's mostly motivated by me having difficulties with writing all the characters that are gonna be playing a role in this story.
> 
> Second: yes, Ozpin and Ruby's decision to just depart like that was incredibly stupid and, if I had known before that this was gonna be a multichapter fic, I wouldn't have written it like that at all XD I could handwave it while it was still just a One Shot, not so much now. So I'm trying to explain it with Ruby and Ozpin's mental state. Feel free to tell me it doesn't work. XD
> 
> Aaand, that's it, for now. Shorter chapter this time, but since I plan to write each chapter and then translate it in Italian, to publish the story on an Italian site (yes, It's a really stupid idea), maybe shorter chapters are better.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much, [Peppermint_Patty ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peppermint_Patty/pseuds/Peppermint_Patty)and [galacticberries](https://archiveofourown.org/users/galacticberries/pseuds/galacticberries), for helping me out with this chapter!

_**R** u_by heard Ozpin laugh out loud, but she didn't happen to find this situation particularly funny.

She pressed on, each step harder than the one before. She couldn't honestly hope to flee away from Jaune and the others, tired as she was, but this... this was on principle.

"I'm talking to you too!" she heard Jaune shout.

Footsteps hurried behind her as Ozpin continued to laugh. _Oh, shut up._

Maybe to have a final laugh at her expenses, instead of reaching at her normally, stopping her by grabbing her arm and shit - she was, after all, just a few feet away from the others, and much, much slower - Weiss just raised a wall of ice in front of her.

Ruby Rose, unable to just let it go, limped on until her face was pressed against it, and there she stayed, unmoving like she was gonna become a statue of ice next to the cold wall she was resting against. The sensation, at least, numbed her senses, which were now all screaming at her for subjecting them to that insane travel plan of the last two days. Fair.

"Quit being a kid" Weiss' voice reached her before her owner did. Ruby finally put his face away from the wall - for a second she thought she was gonna just fall, ass on the ground, exhausted as she was, but she managed to stay on her feet - and saw the Ice Queen looking at her, with a disgusted look and her arms crossed.

She looked less pissed than Jaune anyway.

"What the everloving fuck, you guys?" was Jaune's comment on the whole situation. He was livid, not even in his lowest moment at Argus had Ruby seen him this angry.

And still, this time he was visibly making a conscious effort to regain himself and not explode. Guess he understood what Ruby's madness had come from.

"You couldn't just stay at Atlas, could you?" she attempted to argue, knowing how stupid her words sounded. "I told you that we would take care of-"

" **HOW?** " Jaune and Weiss lost it at the same time. Weiss pressed a hand to her forehead. Yang and Blake appeared behind her soon after, Blake putting a hand on her shoulder to calm her. Nora and Ren were a bit farther, next to Ozpin who still had a shit-eating grin on his face. Ren seemed to be in his preferred mood of quiet judgement, while Nora... Nora was surprisingly calm, but had a trace of humor in her eyes? As if she wanted to laugh and cry at the same time and ended up doing none of it. Welp. Ozpin was already laughing for her and Ruby... Ruby really wanted to cry.

"How the hell could two idiots like you" Jaune continued, punctuating each word with a raise of his voice. He was losing control fast. "Even hope to fight Salem's entire army alone?"

He put his foot down violently. But, just as he looked like he was gonna yell, he sighed. A few seconds later, he began talking again, in a calmer tone.

"We only managed to slay that whale with the help of Atlas's artillery, last time. And that was just one Grimm. Yes, a big one, but one. What were you gonna do against the rest of her army?"

"To say nothing about the rest of her henchmen" Ren chimed in. "They were last seen in Atlas, but we don't know if they're following Salem"

Ruby took her scroll out of her pocket again.

"Penny is keeping an eye on them".

"But you haven't checked with her in a while, haven't you?" Weiss intervened. "You don't know if anything has changed."

"I was too busy chasing Salem!" yelled Ruby, shoving her scroll in her pocket once again, with enough strength to rip some fabric from it. "Why didn't _YOU_ ask her?"

"Well," said Nora. "We were busy chasing you guys".

They all fell silent, finally comprehending the stupidity of it all. What a great rescue mission this was…

Ozpin laughed once more, barely hiding it behind a hand.

"You!" said Jaune, pointing at him. "I could have expected this sort of shit from Ruby... Ok, maybe not even from her". Ruby snarled and started to look at her shoes. "But you??? The immortal guy who should know better than to chase Salem's army of Grimm without even the faintest idea of how to cross the sea?".

Ozpin stopped laughing and looked at him, still smiling.

"Seriously" continued Jaune. "You don't even know what you are at the moment, am I wrong? You don't know what power you can use or if you can even use it at all!"

Ozpin finally spoke.

"I think we have already established that my reincarnation curse hasn't made me any smarter".

Oh, so he did hold grudges, after all.

"In any case," he said, in an overly amused tone. "Keen eye, Mr. Arc. That's why I let you enter my school, despite you faking the papers".

Jaune was visibly taken aback. He shot an embarrassed look at Nora and Ren and then back to Ozpin.

"A-are you for real?".

But before he could start arguing back again, Blake raised her hand. They all looked quietly at her.

"Can we not do this right now?" she said, Yang, her arms crossed and looking at the ground, silently nodding at her words. "We're all worried sick about Oscar and we've all been really stupid about this, but we have to get him back. Whatever it takes. We can't let her do anything to him".

Yang nodded again and spoke her mind.

"Ruby, I think this little stunt of yours has made me age twenty years in two days".

Ruby looked at her, her heart finally feeling softer.

"Sis..."

"I understand why you would go to such lengths for Oscar," she said, her eyes quickly darting to Blake and her lips forming a smile. "I understand being this dumb when it comes to someone who's important to you and you don't want to lose but..."

She looked, eyes distinctly blue, at Ozpin.

"You don't have to do this alone. You can't do this alone. And we all love Oscar, so let's all stop arguing and resume the chase. We will have a much better chance of success in the airship".

Ozpin's smile became less forced and snarky.

"Miss Xiao-Long is right. And thank you for not assuming the worst of me".

"Hey, I may still not like you" she replied. "But it's obvious that you wouldn't have done something this idiotic if you didn't love Oscar".

Ozpin put a hand on his heart and looked at them all with a serious gaze.

"I can promise you that, however untrustworthy I've been in the past, I would never gamble on Oscar's safety. I greatly value his life, and not out of utility. He is my partner as much as he's yours, Mr. Arc".

Every trace of rage he might have still held for Ozpin disappeared from Jaune's face.

"Yeah," he said, scratching his head. Nora and Ren looked at him and smiled.

"Let's go back to the airship," Weiss said, adopting a softer tone herself. "There's something we have to show you".

But Ruby, despite her better judgment, despite everything... Just couldn't.

"No," she said, feet planted firmly on the ground.

Yang tried to reach for her, worriedly, but Ruby shoved her robotic hand away.

"I have to do this, and I can't put you guys in danger!" Ruby yelled. "Go back to Atlas, now!"

"Ruby," said Blake. "We can't".

"I have to do this!" said Ruby again. "I need to do this! If I can't do this, then how-"

She gripped her hair and fell knees on the ground, sobbing. 

"How can I ever be a good leader, if I can't protect anyone...?"

Before anyone could say anything, it was Ozpin who offered her a hand to raise again.

"Miss Rose, if I have learned anything, is that a true leader works with his team. Every human being has the right to break, sometimes. We cannot be perfect all the time, because we are not perfect".

Ruby looked at him, tears streaming down her face. This was the exact opposite of what he had told her, all that time ago...

"And you know who taught me this?" he said, a warm light in his yellow eyes. "Oscar Pine".

Ruby took his hand.

* * *

Penny Polendina hadn't heard from Ruby in a couple of days.

She presumed everything was fine anyway, it wasn't like Ruby wasn't capable of dealing with any possible situation she could encounter!

But, truth to be told, she was starting to get worried.

Thing was, she could still see Neopolitan, keeping an eye on her.

More correctly, they were keeping an eye on each other.

Neo had to know that Penny could recognize her, under any disguise, and see her hiding behind any kind of corner. The Maiden powers gave a tremendous boost to what Papa had already given to her robotic body and mind.

But she was expecting to have to engage with blows with Cinder at any moment. Didn't she want that power so desperately?

Instead, the days after the fall of Atlas had been weirdly quiet, all things considered. Well, if you forget about the actual falling of Altas and all that.

Penny had decided to act as bait, make Salem's henchmen think she and what remained of Atlas's military were surveilling the relics in a protected location.

The relics had actually been turned invisible and whisked away by the Happy Huntresses, who now was searching for a safe spot to hide them until everything had settled down again.

Each day, the Happy Huntresses switched their members and sent another person to look after the relics, and each day Penny and Winter had to pretend to be on bad terms with them, who were in turn pretending to want to know the location of the relics themselves.

In truth, they were all waiting to hear from General Ironwood again. He had vanished after the fall of Atlas and, friend or foe depending on where you were standing, they wanted to be certain he knew of their plan about the relics.

And now, team RWBY and JNPR (ORNJ? Penny wasn't sure what their new name was) had vanished too, along with an airship. If Winter knew anything about that, she wasn't comfortable saying.

But enough about that. Penny knew Ruby and her friends were gonna come back alive.

The only thing that worried her was knowing that Salem's henchmen were not that dumb to fall to that plan of theirs for this long, and they would've initiated a fight eventually. What better moment to take advantage of, that the aftermath of the Fall of Atlas? They had lost one of them, Tyrian Callows, devoured by a Grimm (the irony), but if Cinder wanted the Maiden powers, at least, she could've easily attempted.

Either the powers, or the relics, they had to try grabbing them for themselves.

They had to know that Penny could recognize Neopolitan.

So what if Neopolitan, too, was bait? 

Papa had installed a new amazing function in her head. Something, not even those villains could know about. A messaging feature, to be able to speak with Ruby's scroll at any time. She had only to think of the words and they would be sent to Ruby's scroll in the form of a written message.

"Ruby, this is Penny. I don't think Cinder Fall is still here in Atlas".

* * *

"What was that thing you wanted to show us, guys?" Ruby asked as they entered the airship that had landed a few feet away.

"Well, you see..." began Weiss, but Ruby didn't give her the time to finish the sentence.

As she boarded the ship, she was already expecting Maria in the pilot's seat and Uncle Qrow, always ready to risk his skin for her despite his still recovering injuries.

And they were there, what she didn't expect was to see James Ironwood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I killed Tyrian off.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to [Peppermint_Patty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peppermint_Patty/pseuds/Peppermint_Patty) for being my beta in this chapter!

**_N_** or Ozpin nor Ruby could really properly react when they saw James Ironwood.

Ozpin was too tired, and he figured Ruby was in an even worse condition. However, he assumed out of the kindness of her soul, that she was actually happier to see him alive than he was.

He wished he could be happier.

"General Ironwood" she had managed to say.

Ozpin could only stare at him. He felt James and Qrow stare back at him.

The others were mumbling things that he could not really follow right now.

"He wanted to come..."

"We found him at the airship dock..."

And Mrs. Calavera was using this downtime as an opportunity to rest, at the pilot seat.

"So it's true," James said. "Ozpin-"

Ozpin couldn't help but grimace and stare him down even more. James took a step backward. How dare he ignore Ruby like that...!

"I'm glad you're alive." the poor girl was still trying to politely start a conversation with him. He kept ignoring her.

"Ozpin, I can explain!" the man frantically talked. He looked so worn down and thinner than before, a pair of eyebags heavily shadowing his eyes, but Ozpin couldn't seem to muster sympathy.

"Miss Rose is trying to speak to you, James." Ozpin said with gritted teeth, his own headache getting worse and worse.

Finally, James turned to Ruby.

"Yes, sorry. I imagine you want to know why I'm here."

Ruby was struggling to stay on her feet. Now that they had stopped walking, all the hellish effort of the last two days was catching up with her fast.

She didn't reply, maybe she didn't have the strength to. James continued.

"I'm here to make amends for what I've caused."

Ozpin winced. He wanted to scream.

"How are you going to do that, James?" he asked in the calmer tone he could manage. That was a rhetorical question but he answered anyway, with a sigh.

"I allowed Salem to toy with me and ended up causing the fall of my kingdom. Nothing I can do will change that. And I know that saving a single child isn't going to bring back all the people who lost their lives in the past days but-"

He said something else that Ozpin couldn't really understand, as he was fuming with anger to the point that he had clenched his fists so hard that his nails had dug in his palms.

It was probably some self-pitying bullshit anyway. He himself knew what those sounded like.

Ruby lost her footing for a moment. Weiss immediately rushed to her side to hold her. She rested on her partner's shoulder and seemed to regain a little energy.

"How do we know we can trust you? I assume you've already told my friends, but I want to hear it just to be sure."

"Well," Maria Calavera interrupted. "For one, he took turns piloting this thing with me. Next time you dumb kids want to run away, learn how to pilot airships by yourself. I refuse to stay awake for 48 uninterrupted hours, even for you!"

Ruby made an embarrassed noise.

"Sorry!"

"Mph."

"Yes, well..." Qrow chimed in. He was now keeping his eyes away from Ozpin on purpose. Maybe he was embarrassed too, but... Ozpin couldn't help but feel hurt. "Show her the other thing, James."

James nodded and unbuttoned his uniform.

He pointed at a strange device incarnated in his new mechanical arm. That couldn't be...

"It's a bomb."

At this, even Ozpin had to care.

Ruby's eyes darted to her friends, looking at each face as if she was hoping this was all a huge joke. But it wasn't.

"I had this installed on my arm as the last resort". James said. "And I can only activate it after I open it and input a code. That would require using the other arm."

_Yes, and?_

"The fact that we're all still alive is the proof that I don't want to do you any harm."

_What a joke._

"Also," Mr. Arc said. "We've been taking turns at keeping an eye on him, especially when he pilots. He's been quiet so far."

Ruby nodded.

"I understand."

Yeah, they had no choice. Well, until now.

"I can pilot this airship as well," Ozpin said, directly to Maria.

"Not right now, you can't" she scoffed. "You look like hell, mind ghost or not."

"You both should rest," Blake said. "You haven't slept in a while."

Ozpin wasn't even sure he could sleep. The maddening noise in his head also kinda made him scared to try.

He also couldn't help but feel offended that they all seemingly trusted James Ironwood more than him... even if he knew it was out of necessity more than anything else.

And he approved, really. Well, his rational side, threateningly close to shutting down completely, still did.

"Ozpin."

Oh no, please.

James, uniform now buttoned once more, took a step closer to him.

"I know my actions can't be forgiven."

Ozpin shut his eyes close.

_Don't. Go. **There.**_

"I should have never done something so awful. In that moment, I saw you as my enemy... But you're my closest friend."

In the span of a second, the general was lying on the ground.

"Hey, hey!" shouting was heard.

"Please, let's not do this."

Various hands were clasping Ozpin's arms, trying to seize him or comfort him or both?

He had punched James.

He looked down on him. James stared back, a guilty look in his eyes. As if he knew why Ozpin did that. But he didn't!

"I deserve this."

Qrow seemed to immediately understand what Ozpin's motives were, as he immediately took a step back, realizing his own guilt. 

_Qrow, I could never do this to you. Or maybe... I could._

"You" Ozpin almost spat out that word. "You're not doing this for Oscar."

James blinked twice. He made no effort to stand up.

"Of course I am. I want to help you however I can-"

_"You!"_ Ozpin said again, now with a snarl. "You're doing this for me? You think _I care_?"

"Ozpin. I'm so sorry."

Another hand touched his arm. Ozpin recognized it as Ruby's. He breathed, trying to calm down.

"His life is more important than you think, James."

Everyone looked at Ozpin. Ozpin felt a tinge of pride in recognizing praise in those looks. However, James's look was one of surprise.

"I... didn't realize you cared for him this deeply."

Ozpin let out a humorless laugh.

"So you didn't care for him in return. You're despicable."

He turned around.

"Miss Rose, I advise you to take some sleep. I'm going to rest in the back of the ship."

He turned his face to James one last time.

"Make amends to Oscar, not to me."

* * *

The airship was big and made for cruising purposes. Ozpin found a seat in the last row of what he assumed was the second class.

After a while, Jaune walked in.

"Everything good?"

Ozpin didn't reply.

"Ruby seems to be asleep. We're all in the first class, wanna come? The seats there are more comfortable."

Ozpin side-eyed him.

"Do you want me to come?"

"Yes".

"Liar," Ozpin said. "I would only make you uncomfortable."

Jaune scratched his head like he did when he was embarrassed.

"No more than Ironwood, trust me."

Ozpin chuckled.

"Go rest, Mr. Arc".

Jaune seemingly remembered why he had come pestering him in the first place.

"I could help you feel a little better! You're made of Aura, right?"

Ozpin nodded.

"I think so, yes."

"Then maybe my Semblance can make you feel better. And maybe it will affect Oscar as well! Are- are you still linked?"

"I assume we are, in a way. But I can't feel him at all."

He could only hear the voices.

"But we can try," he conceded. Jaune's Semblance was Aura boosting and his corporeal form was literally made of Aura.

He didn't anticipate feeling that kind of pain.

But when Jaune activated his Semblance, a sudden flash of light blinded his eyes, and the voices- 

Gods, the voices-

They became so loud. And it hurt.

_"Stop! Stop it!"_

At once, Jaune stopped and leaned on him, worriedly.

"Did I hurt you? What happened? Are you ok?"

He truly was a kind young man.

Ozpin stopped clutching his head and looked at him. He smiled at him when his vision became less fuzzy.

"You did nothing wrong. I assume I'm... just not working as Aura should, right now."

"Can I do anything to help?"

"Just let me rest," Ozpin said.

"Do as he says, kiddo" Qrow's voice followed.

Oh, so this was Annoy Ozpin Day.

He and Qrow looked at each other awkwardly. Jaune thought best to wave them goodbye and leave the scene.

"So, uh," said Qrow. "Mind if I sit here?"

Ozpin shrugged.

"It's not like I can stop you."

Qrow shrugged in return and sat in the seat next to Ozpin's.

They rested quietly for a bit, Ozpin still head in his hands as the pain slowly faded away, and Qrow slumped against the backrest and looking everywhere but at Ozpin.

But then, Qrow finally spoke, his head still turned away from Ozpin.

"Seeing you back like this... It's so weird."

Ozpin leaned against the backrest, fingers massaging his temples.

"Tell me about it."

Another little moment of silence.

"Are you really Ozpin or like..."

"What do you mean?" asked Ozpin.

Qrow sighed.

"I was wondering if you were Ozpin the man or Ozpin the endlessly reincarnating soul."

_Ozpin the man who embraced me in those cold nights when everything around us was pain and death,_ Ozpin heard.

His heart became heavier.

"I don't know myself".

He looked at Qrow and managed to catch his pupils turning to him momentarily before darting away again. He sighed once more.

"Qrow, I-".

But he couldn't finish the phrase. There was so much to say, that he didn't even know where to begin.

He thought back, headache subsiding, at their younger days. The younger days of Ozpin at least. He felt like Ozpin at the moment. He desperately wanted to be Ozpin and no one else.

He thought of the two of them, the youngest Headmaster and his barely older student loving the same girl that inspired them both to be better. Of acceptance of her marrying another man, a dear friend himself. As long as she was happy, they didn't have any objections.

But when she died, the world fell apart.

They had found comfort in each other then. He still remembered Qrow's words pulling at his heartstrings in a way that he could never voice. The faith and love he had put on him and that he didn't deserve...

Ozpin wasn't the man Qrow and Summer believed him to be.

"I'm sorry," he said then. "I have always been just an imposter. In this life and the ones that came before me".

Qrow finally looked at him, and his eyes were so incredibly sad that Ozpin felt his own eyes stinging with tears.

"I stopped drinking," Qrow said.

"I'm happy to hear it," Ozpin replied, guilty that he could never help him quit before.

He felt like both of them would have greatly appreciated a drink at the moment.

"I never apologized for that punch".

Ozpin felt the anger he directed at James rising up again.

"Don't apologize to me".

Qrow looked up at the grey ceiling of the airship.

"I meant that I should apologize to you both. To Ozpin and Oscar".

Ozpin gulped back saliva. He felt a knot in his throat.

"Tell Oscar when we rescue him".

"I don't think I can face him".

Ozpin was somewhat taken aback by that honesty. He felt himself imagining a different life, where he could have lived with Oscar and Qrow and Ruby... All different people and no lies, no curse...

"You and me, both," he said.

There was an invisible wall between them. Two old friends - or something more - who had hurt one another so deeply that the scars would probably never fade away.

"I apologize as well. For everything."

Qrow didn't say anything. Maybe that was too generic of an apology.

Ozpin gritted his teeth.

"Qrow..."

And his voice sounded less steady than he would have liked.

"I'm sorry I ran away. When you told me you had put your life in my hands because I had given it worth, I-".

He caught his breath. Qrow's attention was once again on him and he could feel his head spinning again and the distant voices becoming louder, bringing him back to a past he was afraid of.

"I never told you... That I felt the same". He trembled. "My life belonged to you, and because you believed in me I felt it was worth something".

And then the castle of cards had fallen.

Between the voices in his head being incomprehensible, his link with Oscar, so far away, impossible to detect, and his old students and friends being with him but not wanting to be around him, Ozpin had never felt so alone.

Could an Aura ghost cry? Because he wanted to. He felt so tired.

Suddenly, a warm sensation in his hand.

Qrow had clasped it with his.

Ozpin looked at him. Qrow had turned his gaze away, but the grip of his hand was tight, welcoming. He clasped back.

He tentatively put his head on Qrow's shoulder. Qrow didn't protest.

Could an Aura ghost fall asleep?

The voices continued talking, but he stopped hearing them as he drifted off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, you might have noticed the Major Character Death warning is gone.
> 
> By the content of this chapter, you might have guessed to which character it was gonna apply.
> 
> But I believe I have found another way!
> 
> Also this is now a cloqwork fanfic too.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was beta read by the lovely [Peppermint_Patty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peppermint_Patty/pseuds/Peppermint_Patty)! Thank you so much!

**_T_** he water extended past their field of view.

They were crossing the ocean.

Oscar's yellow dot on their scrolls had stopped on the continent across the sea for over a day now. Ruby clutched her scroll in her hand, trying to keep her worries at bay.

She hadn't asked - nobody had asked - Ozpin for confirmation, but it was clear to everyone: they were headed to Salem's lair.

The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to puke. The dread she felt for Oscar and the fear of what Salem could have been doing to him at this very moment was matched only by her hype to finally be able to pummel Salem's damn immortal face, bust a tooth out for every person she lost to her.

_Mom._

_Pyrrha._

_Penny. Well, now she's back, but still._

_Ozpin. Well, now HE's back, but still._

And if she dared to take Oscar away from her as well... Ruby would defy the Gods themselves and spit in the face of Salem's immortality. She didn't know how, but she would.

"Are you alright?"

Blake's voice snapped her out of the darkness. She put her scroll back in her pocket.

She considered whether to tell Blake a white lie or not. She remembered Ozpin's words... Yeah, a leader was allowed to break down sometimes.

"No, I'm not," she said.

Blake left her spot against the wall next to Nora to come and give Ruby a comforting embrace. Ruby leaned into it, clutching to her shoulders, trying to steady her breath.

They could do this.

They had to.

As they separated, Nora observed them with sympathy.

Ironwood, who was piloting the airship under their watchful eye, didn't utter a word.

Blake patted Ruby on the shoulder one more time and sighed.

"I understand you, Ruby. I truly do".

Ruby nodded, trying to not let her tears fall. She caught Nora clutching her weapon, apprehensively.

"It's just," Nora said. "This always seems to happen to Oscar. Ever since he first joined us, he's always been hurt, over and over. We have hurt him too. And it's always to get back at Ozpin. This isn't fair."

She slowly slid against the wall until she was on the floor.

"It isn't fair to Ozpin either, honestly."

_Yeah_ , Ruby thought. She had a tendency for favoring Oscar, even if admitting that made her blush. But Ozpin was just as part of the team as he was.

Though, she was happy to see it acknowledged that Oscar was treated unfairly on many occasions too. She, herself, had a significant disagreement about Ironwood with him and, though Oscar usually kept his disappointment to himself and trusted her decision, just knowing that they had been incapable of properly communicating to each other that one time still hurt her.

If Ruby was taught by Ozpin to be self-sacrificing to the point of stupidity, Oscar, being his like-minded soul, was like that by design.

And, of course, that one flaw applied to Ozpin as well. And that flaw of his had caused the group and many others an indescribable amount of sorrow, but it was born from a desire to protect humankind.

His actions had hurt others many times, but, Ruby knew, it wasn't a hurt that he had caused willingly.

The reflective and melancholy-filled mood was interrupted by Ozpin himself, entering the pilot's cabin.

"Good morning, everyone. I trust that nothing eventful happened in these past hours?"

"Nope," Nora said. "Just waves, and waves, and waves. And ol' Jimmy here is boring as _sin._ "

Ruby saw Ozpin barely hiding his chuckles. She herself realized she was smiling.

The General, or ex-General in his case, who was still piloting, dead seriously, jolted his head at the accusation. Nora had managed to distract him from the silence and concentration that he had kept for hours!

Maybe he too was tired, after all.

"Have you slept well?" Blake asked.

"It can barely be called sleep, but yes," Ozpin replied.

"Dude, we checked on you and you looked dead! If you can't call it sleep, then what is it?!" Nora wondered, really, REALLY loudly, to the point that it was Ozpin's turn to be startled.

"And you slept against Qrow for hours! You two were SO ado-"

Blake clasped Nora's mouth, to avoid her embarrass the old Headmaster further.

"Hey!!!" she complained, shoving Blake's hand away.

"Sorry," she said. "I have a double set of ears and the lack of sleep is making me dizzy."

Ruby observed the little scene and felt her heart warm up. She had missed her friends, even if she had pretended not to. Even in the darkest moments, their presence could still light the way ahead of her.

"Oh yeah, sorry then," Nora said. "I know we should go to sleep ourselves, but I wanna stay up. Are we there yet?"

Ol' Boring Jimmy yielded to Nora once more and finally spoke, in the deadpanned, most poker-faced tone Ruby had ever heard.

"No."

"How about now?" Nora practically jumped to grip at the backrest of his seat. "I wanna punch some Grimm!"

Ironwood sighed.

Ruby saw Ozpin's body language change and become more distant as he spoke to Ironwood.

"Go rest, General. I will take your place."

From the way Ironwood's head turned to Ozpin completely, Ruby guessed the use of the title instead of his name wasn't a choice that was lost on him.

"I'm perfectly awake, Ozpin. You don't need to-"

Ozpin glared at him coldly.

"Go. Rest. Now."

Ironwood rose up from the seat. Ruby, Blake, and Nora gave him the space to exit the cabin. He didn't say anything as he left.  
  
She heard Jaune's voice welcoming him back immediately. Now it was his turn to keep an eye on him, along with Ren and Yang.

Ozpin, now seated in the General's place, turned his head on them. Ruby stared silently at his silver hair. Nobody spoke.

"You know," said Nora, with her usual breaking her ice shtick. "Maria's right. You should really teach us how to do this, one of these days. If we didn't have you, we could only rely on an old lady and a boring-ass fascist dictator."

Ozpin's only reply was "Mh."

Somehow, the air around them felt colder than how it was in all the hours they spent watching over the General.

Blake patted Ruby's shoulder once more, signaling that she was gonna take action.

"Professor?" she said, and Ruby expected him to erupt in another scary laugh like he had done when she had suggested that title to his face, days ago.

Instead, he said nothing. Blake resumed.

"Is it ok if we speak to you?"

This time, Ozpin sighed.

"What kind of question is that, Miss Belladonna?" he said, in a tired voice. "Have I ever forbidden you from speaking, ever?"

Ruby saw Blake's ears fold, and frowned. _That was mean, Oz! She was just being polite!_

"I am sorry," Ozpin said, after a moment. "I have been on edge since knowing Oscar is already in Salem's lair."

Oh yeah, Ruby and the others certainly could relate.

"By any means, Blake," he said. "I told you once that you can always speak to me whenever you want, and I meant it. Was there anything specific that you wanted to talk about?"

Blake took a huge breath.

"Yes," she said. "I wanted to apologize to you on behalf of everyone here."

Ruby had half-expected Ozpin to laugh, yet again. No laughter whatsoever, for the second time this morning.

He didn't say anything at all, so Blake continued.

"Earlier, we were talking about how we treated you and Oscar unfairly."

"Yes," Ozpin replied. "I overheard that. Apologize to Oscar when we rescue him, not to me."

"I think you deserve an apology as well," Blake concluded.

"I think so too," said Nora.

Ruby thought back to the days she had spent with him. He always had her back, even in the pinnacle of her stupidity. She nodded, more to herself than to anyone else.

"Yeah."

Ozpin turned slightly. His eyes scrutinized each of them.

"What you did with Jinn was the right thing. Don't apologize for that."

"Maybe it was," said Ruby. "Maybe not completely."

Ozpin's attention returned to the skies ahead.

"It was wrong of me to hold such important information from you. I am the one who should be apologizing, not you."

"But we hurt you," said Blake. "We blamed you for things that weren't your fault."

"And I ran away," Ozpin said, his voice dripping with disgust. "Like a coward."

"I did the same," Blake said softly.

Ruby took her hand on hers.

"You both returned. That's what matters."

Blake smiled at her, but, in the corner, Nora laughed.

"Wait, Ruby! You ran away too!"

Ruby could feel her face turning red.

"We went over this, ok?! I was being stupid!"

"Yeah, yeah," Nora said. "People are stupid sometimes. It's how it is! Even Ren sometimes acts stupid! Heck, I act stupid very often!"

"Miss Valkyrie," Ozpin intervened. "You are one of the finest minds I have ever had the pleasure to meet".

"Oh shush, you don't mean that."

"I do."

Ruby could hear that Ozpin's voice had softened at that was great. It was a good start.

"Everyone in this expedition has my utmost respect," Ozpin continued, eyes still on the road. "Barring a certain General, our previous disagreements haven't diminished my opinion of you one bit. I can't stress enough how glad I am that Oscar found such loyal friends."

"Yes," Ruby said. She couldn't help but smile at the memory of his freckled face. "But this isn't just about Oscar."

Nora and Blake's eyes immediately turned to her, like they weren't expecting her to say something like this, and they found it hilarious.

Ozpin's head turned once more, too.

_Oh, for fuck's sake! Give me a break!_ Ruby thought, face flushed.

"He... well. He's the one who was kidnapped," said Ozpin.

"Yes! But! That's not what I meant!" Ruby shouted.

Blake attempted to defuse the awkwardness.

"Of course. We're worried about him."

But she couldn't completely hide her smile from Ruby.

Nora was smiling brightly too.

Ok, maybe they weren't laughing at her, after all. They were happy to see that she cared so much.

Ruby composed herself.

"What I meant is that you, Ozpin. Whoever you are. You deserve loyal friends too."

This time, Ozpin laughed heartily.

"I'll keep that in mind, Miss Rose. Thank you," he said, before returning to face the sky.

"And I'm sure everyone else feels the same, even if things are still a little awkward," Blake said.

"Truly," said Ozpin. "No need to apologize for this. I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

"It's the fact that we know we hurt you and Oscar that makes us uncomfortable," Nora said. "I think we can accept that as grown people and move past that."

"Yeah," Blake said. "I'm sure Yang feels that way too."

"Oh, for sure!" said Ruby. "But I think Yang and the others should apologize to you by themselves."

Ozpin handwaved at them.

"When they're ready."

"Yes, but they need to."

Ozpin laughed again. It was a pleasant sound, to the ear.

"Again," he said. "No need. I don't hold grudges."

_Fucking liar._

Whatever he was holding towards Ironwood was clearly a grudge, but Ruby knew better than to speak up about it.

It wasn't the right time yet.

Ironwood had shot Oscar, had shot to kill, and that wasn't something that could easily be forgiven, not even by someone who tried his damnest to pretend he was an all-forgiving guy like Ozpin.

Ruby couldn't forgive that easily herself, truth be told. Thinking about it, the rage she was feeling about Salem now could have been easily directed at Ironwood, if he had succeeded at killing Oscar.

Gods, she was glad that that hadn't been the case. And she hoped - prayed - with all her heart that nothing would happen to him in this situation as well.

Nora made a _uuugh_ sound.

"Listen, Oz, if this loyal friend thing is going to work, you have to accept that you can be the object of affection sometimes, ok?"

"I will try my best, Miss Valkyrie," Ozpin said. "But also, I think you three should go get some sleep. We're closer to our enemy and we need to be on top of our forms."

Right.

The confrontation with Salem was coming closer. _Oscar, just wait a little longer!_

"Oh, wait, one more thing," Nora said. "You've got no weapon, maybe you should stay behind on the ship."

"I will literally punch the Grimm to little smithereens if I have to, Miss Valkyrie. As you know, I'm quite skilled at hand to hand combat."

"Well, I can appreciate the idea of punching Grimm to death, but they're Grimm! Even Yang needs a weapon to do that! I could lend you Maghnild-"

"I'm an Aura construct. Keep your weapon and protect yourself. Even if I were hurt, I'm already dead. I doubt it would have any lasting effect."

But wait, that was actually something worth considering.

"What did you think would happen, if you... uh... died, in this form?" Ruby asked.

Ozpin considered it for a moment.

"Given this is almost certainly Oscar's doing, I think I would simply return to him. The God of Light's will cannot be broken by a single child. Not that I would even want to leave this mortal coil and move on, at the present time. Not while Oscar is in danger."

"Yeah. But what would happen to Oscar if you were defeated and returned to him?"

Ozpin paused for longer, this time.

"I cannot say. We do not know how this works, at the moment, and we can't experiment with it. I do not know what condition Oscar currently is, and I do think I would do him more good in my own body than in his mind, at the moment."

That was fair.

"Ok then," Ruby said. "You can fight, if you want, but don't get yourself killed."

Ozpin turned to her, one final time.

"Understood. The same applies to you. Now, go and rest."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm using NaNoWriMo to try and write more and have more fun with it.
> 
> So far, it has helped my productivity a lot!
> 
> I also planned to include another scene in this chapter, but decided to write it for the next one. Hopefully, I can update more frequently and be more organized this way!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I have to thank you the lovely[Peppermint_Patty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peppermint_Patty/pseuds/Peppermint_Patty) for beta reading this chapter!
> 
> Enjoy!

" ** _I'v_** e told you already, you can't free yourself so easily"

Oscar removed his hands from the jail bars. Again.

It wasn't like he didn't know that what he was doing was pointless, just that he didn't have any clue what else to do.

And the voices in his head offered nothing but more anxiety and noise.

Salem had him trapped in a room inside her castle. The bars that closed his cell were magically created, just to make sure he couldn't break them down even if he tried really hard.

Speaking of magic, she still held her barrier on him, to avoid having to feed him and stuff, but that didn't make Oscar feel any better. Sure, he didn't have to eat or sleep or go to the bathroom, but after a while, his body was clearly perceiving it wasn't working normally and was actually starting to make him feel all the more nauseated for it.

Not to mention, the days of air travel he had to bear, literally suspended in the air by a fucking monkey.

Oscar made sure to glare at Salem, right in her face, before stepping away and continuing his half limping pacing around the room.

It wasn't that small, but it was empty. No bed to lie around but the cold floor. Not even a window. He was truly trapped.

And she knew that and liked to rub it in his face.

She wasn't there all the time, nor she had done anything to harm him, not yet at least, but he knew that she was just playing with him. When she got bored, she could have done anything she wanted with him.

And his friends were coming for him. If he couldn't free himself soon, everything would go to shit.

"It seems to me you're not enjoying yourself," she taunted, a damn smirk on her demonic face. "I'm sorry to be such a bad host. I should've set up some music. He always liked music."

_Fuck right off._

Oscar glared at her again, with all the hate he could convey in his gaze. She only seemed to grow more amused by it.

He hated her so much.

What was he thinking, when he had sacrificed himself? It was clear as day that nothing would change for the better, hell, he probably knew that even in that moment. He had always known.

And yet, he had done something so incredibly pointless and stupid, even as Ozpin practically begged him in his head, over and over, not to, and now he and his friends were all gonna die because of it.

Great. Just... Fucking great.

He quickly wiped away his tears as he continued pacing. He knew she probably caught that action and was internally gloating about it, but he didn't want to give her any more satisfaction than needed.

He had thought... He had wanted to do something useful, for once.

He had wanted the war and the dying to stop.

A small and petty part of him also, maybe, wanted to be cool. He wanted Ruby and the others to think about him fondly, as a hero. Maybe.

But this? This was just stupid.

He had been a stupid child. A selfish, stupid child. One who greatly overvalued his own importance in this rotten world.

Yes, he was the magic reincarnation of a legendary hero. But Jinn had already shown him - oh Gods, how long ago had it been? - that that didn't mean anything. He... They were all broken gears in a malfunctioning clock. Unable to do anything remotely good and useful, ever.

Fucking hell, now wasn't the time for self-loathing, was it?

His friends were coming for him. Ruby was coming for him. He couldn't just watch as they died for his stupid ass, could he?

"Oh, and what are you doing, now?" Salem's voice asked, as he sat down on the floor and then lied on it. "You know, you can't really sleep, right now. Sorry about that, but I don't want to waste resources on you."

He didn't dignify her with an answer.

He looked at Salem for a moment. She took his scroll out of whatever pocket dimension she was keeping it and made sure he saw he's a shit-eating smirk.

"Your little friends are almost there. Would you be a darling and stay quiet until they arrive?"

He sighed and closed his eyes.

If he had to break down those magic bars, he would have to use magic.

But in order to do that, he needed some peace and quiet in his head. And, to do that, he needed to...

_Hello?_

The voices continued their unintelligible ramblings.

_Hello? It's me, Oscar._

The voices seemed to quiet down just a bit.

_Can you talk to me clearly? I can listen to you._

The voices stopped.

_You guys are those who came before me, right?_

The voices grew agitated once again.

_Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. I wanna talk. Can we talk?_

They stopped again.

_Can you tell me your names?_

* * *

An airship had flown in the distance, heading to the castle they could see ahead of them.

"That has to be Cinder," Ruby said aloud, to her comrades. Penny had warned her that Salem's henchmen were also headed to this very location.

"Seems like a big fight is ahead of us," Yang said.

"Maybe this was Salem's plan all along," said Jaune. "So she can fight us all in her home base and with all her Grimm and servants on her side."

Ozpin clenched his fists.

"She is that petty. I wonder if she truly just desires to kill us all or not, but in any case, I suggest caution."

Qrow nodded. They had managed to convince him that his presence wouldn't bring them bad luck, but he still looked a bit wary.

Ironwood, at his side, also looked on edge.

They were still all keeping an attentive eye on him, but leaving him behind on the airship with Maria was agreed on to be the more dangerous option.

"I hope they didn't see our ship," said Weiss. "But then again, they may be already expecting us."

"Yeah," acknowledged Ruby. "They probably are. But maybe they didn't have any time to bother Maria."

Maria had dropped them off once they had located the castle from the airship. The dark lair was visible from their current position, but far enough that they hopefully weren't spotted by anybody there.

There was what looked like a long staircase they would have to climb in order to reach the entrance, but the entire road and the staircase climbing didn't look like anything they couldn't do in a couple of hours.

"One last time: are your earpieces working?" asked Ruby.

Her friends checked their instruments and nodded.

"Maria?" Ruby asked, directly into the receiver.

"Yes, yes. I'm blind, not deaf."

"Ok! Sorry!"

Now they only had to hope that they wouldn't meet any opposition along the way. But, so far, no Grimm had approached them. And they always had an ace in their sleeves.

"Everybody," called Jaune. "Let's hold hands and hope this works."

They did and, to anybody who hadn't known of their plan, they might have looked like school children on a field trip.

"I'm ready," said Ren, and, with Jaune's at his right hand and his left connecting to the rest of the chain, he activated his Semblance.

If the worst happened and they would get ambushed by Grimm right in the brief span that took Jaune to recover his Aura and, in turn, recover Ren's, Ruby was ready to use her unique power.

The thought of Oscar, alone, was all she needed to use her silver eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was, once again, betaread by my friend[Peppermint_Patty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peppermint_Patty/pseuds/Peppermint_Patty)! Thank you so much!
> 
> Also, let me reiterate: I'm still following what I had originally planned for this story. All similarities with what could or not happen in the actual shows are coincidential!

**_C_** inder couldn't believe this shit if she tried.

They had Ozpin's new meat vessel in their hands, and Ruby was coming straight into their trap, but they weren't supposed to kill them?!

Salem had her plans, of course. She always had her plans. Plans that Cinder couldn't hope to comprehend. She had reminded her of that many, many times.

She was just supposed to shut up and follow.

Part of her was telling her this just now: _just listen to her. Don't raise your voice. Don't disappoint her like you always do. You know what happens when you disappoint her, don't you?_

But they, despite what Salem pretended, had lost at Atlas. They had lost despite their advantage. Tyrian was dead. Watts had lost an arm. They all were tired and beaten and Cinder hadn't managed to kill that damn puppet that played at being the Winter Maiden.

Her dark arm twitched terribly.

And now they were just supposed to wait around for that... that damn brat that had hurt Cinder, had taken everything from her.

She had thought that she and Salem were finally on the same page, for once. Silver Eyed Warriors had the potential to hurt her queen as well, had they not?

And instead, they were going to talk to her? What next, invite her to tea?

And Ozpin's vessel? He was a reminder of Cinder's own failure at killing the man - she was still plagued by nightmares... He had saved her, killing himself in the process, from the falling rubble of Beacon. She was weak like that - and she knew very well that Hazel itched to hurt him, despite his own guilt.

He had confided her so: "I want to kill that child. I know I shouldn't, but I do."

And she had told her to embrace it. Guilt was something they all had to deal with - hell, maybe even Tyrian had, in his own way - but it wouldn't do Salem any good. Her queen had the nose for guilt and she did not like it.

Hazel himself knew it. They all knew it. Cinder most of all.

_Shut up, shut up, shut up._

She yelled in her brain, at nobody in particular.

Or maybe to that girl that was still asking her "Do you believe in destiny?" every waking moment.

Hazel was pacing around, nervous, in the now renovated meeting room.

Emerald and Mercury stayed in a corner, on edge. Yes, even Mercury, the damn idiot who always pretended he didn't know the meaning of fear.

Watts was seated on his chair, at the table, observing his right metallic arm with interest.

And Salem, also seated at the head of the table, looked quiet and almost peaceful. Maybe she wanted tea time, after all. What the fuck.

Tyrian's chair had been removed. Maybe it was Salem's own way of showing respect for his sacrifice.

_Cinder,_ her head continued to whisper, _you can't understand her because she's so above you. Just accept it._

_But I was hurt,_ she told herself, _and now she wants to talk with the same person who hurt and humiliated me? I thought she loved me._

_Silly Cinderella, you were never loved._

_I thought... Just a little bit…_

_Quit your whining. Your performance is the only thing that counts._

Ruby would be there at any moment, and they were not supposed to immediately jump on her and slaughter her and her stupid friends. Ok.

What of the boy in the cell? Who knows. Salem had probably a plan for him too. They were going to accept it, even if they didn't like it.

_Mother knows best, after all._

* * *

Oscar took a peak in the darkness.

The voices lulled him into the abyss, guiding him for what he was searching for.

A connection. To what belonged to him.

Deeper and deeper, he descended into his own mind, and he felt as if his very soul transcended his own body. For that moment, he existed in everything.

He looked around.

There it was. Long Memory.

Salem had taken it away, along with his scroll. That had to be in the same space, somewhere.

It wasn't going to be as easy to locate. Long Memory was linked to him. Imbued in the magic of all their souls.

His scroll, of course... Was not.

But, he assumed, Salem didn't probably worry about putting the two objects in two different dimensions. She was already wasting so much of her magic to keep him alive and secluded in that cell, and storing something in another plane of existence was, probably, a much greater effort.

Oscar knew he would also need a great effort to bring them back to him. But he had everything to lose.

For Salem, Oscar was just a prisoner, she had seen how confused and ill he had been for the duration of the travel and captivity. And she had probably guessed Ozpin was inaccessible at this moment.

She couldn't have predicted the others, but then again, neither had Oscar.

So she may have not thought of him as a danger, just as a source of amusement and a device to further her own plans.

But she was gonna be proven wrong. Oh so wrong.

A smaller soul is the key to victory, isn't it?

He heard a cacophony of voices.

They weren't rambling on, causing confusion in his head, anymore. They were in tune with his soul and conscience.

For a brief moment that felt like an eternity, they acted as one.

_Ozpin, can you feel it, wherever you are?_

He pictured himself reaching his hand. He grabbed the handle of Long Memory.

And then used that light that had sprung alive, the moment his hand connected to his weapon, to search for his scroll.

Yeah, just as he had assumed, it was close by. He took it with his other hand.

When he reopened his eyes in his own body, back in the real plane, he was fatigued. Much more exhausted than he had already been feeling beforehand.

Still supine on the ground, he panted heavily, the voices becoming harder to understand properly once more. But he could clearly understand a couple of words.

"Breathe."

He focused on slowing down his breath. It was hard at first but, in time, his vision cleared and the ache his body was feeling quelled.

He raised both his arms.

He smiled.

In his left hand, his scroll.

In his right hand, Long Memory.

* * *

"Oscar."

Ruby stopped her climb and turned her head. Everyone was looking at Ozpin. He was glaring intensely at his own foot that was already placed on the step ahead of him.

"What is it?" she asked.

"He," Ozpin replied. Ruby tried to study his expression, but she couldn't tell if he was happy-nervous or terrified-nervous. Her own heart skipped a bit as she waited for the rest of the sentence. "He did something. Just now."

"Is he in danger?" Jaune asked before Ruby could.

Ozpin raised his head, the white of his eyes meeting them. He looked transfixed, for a lack of a better word. And an increasing sense of dread was now crawling all over Ruby.

"I don't know," Ozpin said, almost a whisper. He looked like he was observing something far ahead of him, that nobody else could sense. What was he seeing, just now? What was he feeling?

He suddenly snapped back, his mystical expression and whatever he had sensed left behind. Well, in a way. Though he was surely pretending to be back to his usual self, it was clear to Ruby, who could see the slightest, almost unnoticeable tremble overtaking him briefly, that he was still shaken.

"But he will be, if we don't hurry."

Ruby and her companions shared the briefest look, nodding to one another. She caught Ironwood's expression hardening even more, between Nora and Yang.

She resumed the climb, trying to speed up their pace.

_Almost there! Wait for us, Oscar!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cinder's POV was very fun to write!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, [Peppermint_Patty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peppermint_Patty/pseuds/Peppermint_Patty) for being my beta once again!
> 
> Also, let me reiterate: I'm still following what I had originally planned for this story. All similarities with what could or not happen in the actual shows are coincidential!

**_A_** ll the furniture in the room flew to the ceiling and crashed down violently, almost burying Cinder and the others underneath them.

For a brief couple of seconds, Salem was furious.

Cinder couldn't help but tremble reflexively at the hellish light in her eyes. But before she could ask herself what had just happened to make her queen this angry, Salem snapped back, flashing a devious grin to all the heads that were turned in her direction.

"I see," she said. She licked his lips. "The boy is smarter than I gave him credit for. I shall enjoy beating him to the ground."

She dusted her clothing from the rubble that had risen with her fury and then looked at each one of them like she was surprised nobody has spoken back to her.

"What are you waiting for? We must go."

Hazel, from behind Cinder, stepped closer.

"Has the child done something?"

Salem's facade of tranquility faded briefly as she looked at him with a look so cruel and despicable that you'd think it would be able to kill a Grimm in an instant.

"Do not." She hissed with such force that Cinder could see her spit, not that she would ever tell her that. "Do. ANYTHING. To him. Unless I tell you to. Is that clear?"

Hazel retraced his step hurriedly.

"Yes. Yes, of course."

"My queen," mouthed Cinder.

"My queen," Salem added.

"My queen," Hazel finished, shooting a glance to his feet, undoubtedly looking for shadowy arms that could tear him apart in a moment's notice if he dared not to address Her Majesty properly.

Watts, who had fallen on his ass, clumsily got back up and followed Salem and Hazel outside the meeting room.

"Mercury. Emerald," Cinder called.

The two were quick to follow. Cinder could feel Emerald attempting to get closer and promptly shooed away. She could smell their fear from there, but, blessedly, Mercury never attempted to clutch to her like a frightened child. She was thankful that he hated her as much as she hated him.

They descended into the belly of the castle.

They were soon greeted by the sight of an emaciated boy who had somehow managed to break up from his cell and was now holding his weapon, ready to strike.

Cinder grinned. She took a step forward, but Salem immediately pulled her back.

"Remember what I told you," her voice was dripping with venom. "We should be kind to our little guest."

She then spoke to him, with a kindness so fake that Cinder almost, but not really, felt sorry for the boy.

"What's the matter, dear? You didn't like your room? I apologize for that, it's been way too long since I've had to care for a child, that I think I forgot how to."

And the implied accusation in that sentence wasn't lost to anyone. But also... No, she was lying. She did have to take care of Cinder, years ago, way after her actual children had died. And yet, Cinder had thought her capable of love, then. But if she thought back about those days... She couldn't recall if her actual room had been any different from the barren cell that was forced on the meat sack.

The meat sack in question had the balls to spit on the floor.

Every single one of Salem's henchmen tried once again to step closer, to correct this grave offense at once. Nobody spat at their queen and lived. And after the one who had spat had been killed as they deserved, it would be the queen's court's turn to be punished, if they hadn't stepped in.

But Salem was of a different mind, this time.

"ENOUGH!"

She yelled, and the castle shook.

Everyone stopped, fearful. Only the boy dared to challenge her with the look in his eyes and his battle stance.

"This is the last time I'm going to repeat myself," Salem said. This was a warning they better obey, as little Grimm shadows made that threat clear by crawling all over the walls. "Stay put and don't interfere."

She reached a hand to the boy.

"Now, dear child. Let's start again, shall we? You have managed to recover your lost items. I admit you surprised me. We shall talk about this later when your friends are dealt with. Hopefully, you all can chat amicably about it later, when you have accepted my offer."

The boy's grip on his cane strengthened.

"If you think my friends are gonna listen to you, you're deluding yourself. And I'm not gonna stay here another minute."

Salem, almost unperturbed, continued.

"Forgive me, dear, but you have to go to your room now."

The boy didn't flinch.

Salem's hand that she had offered him close into a fist.

"If you don't, I will have to make you."

And what surprised Cinder, in that instant, was that the boy smirked.

"You're a terrible guest, you know that? Geez."

Now, Salem didn't stop any of her cronies from assuming their battle stance.

"Do not kill him," she said. "I only need him to not interfere."

That was good enough, for Cinder. Her dark arm desperately itched for some action. She would enjoy wiping that smile from the face of Ruby's dear friend.

The boy, for some reason, took his scroll out of his pocket.

"Anyway, my friends are coming soon. You're done for," he said, still smiling.

Cinder's head briefly turned to Salem. She saw her smiling in return.

"I cannot wait!"

* * *

Ruby had used her Semblance to carry the entire group.

It had felt massively taxing, the hardest and most tiring experience she had ever gone through. Not even the days using it intermittently to follow Salem on foot had been this exhausting.

But Jaune's boosting Semblance helped considerably.

And in any case, at this point, she didn't care.

Not when Oscar had sent all of them a message on their scrolls after days of not knowing his status.

"I got my weapon. I broke out of the cell. See you soon."

That's all he had written.

So Ruby, and perhaps all the others too – she couldn’t speak for Ironwood, but she imagined her friends, Qrow and Ozpin had her exact feelings – was washed over two different emotions.

One: joy, that Oscar seemed to be well, for now, and that he had managed to one-up Salem.

Two: fear, that Oscar was alone in Salem’s castle after he had just one-upped her, and, for what they knew of Salem and what Ozpin had implied about her, she was something of a sore loser. Other the fact that she had no regard whatsoever for human life.

So Ruby had managed to transport all of her companions using her Semblance, speeding up through the last set of stairs, past the place where the ship Salem's henchmen had used was parked, that would have taken them at least another half an hour by foot, and she didn’t care.

She didn’t care, when she broke her Semblance just at the entrance of the Castle, and shoddily took Crescent Rose out for the imminent fight. She didn’t care that her body ached all over. She would forcibly recover that by her Aura. That went for her dizziness too. She didn’t have any time to spare.

Yang blasted open the gates to the castle.

Against any better judgment, they ran inside.

"OSCAR!" yelled Nora. "Oscar, we’re here!"

"Hang in there, buddy!" echoed Jaune.

Ozpin was running by Ruby’s side, ahead of the group. She decided to follow his lead. He appeared to know how to follow directions inside that lair.

They took a corridor to the right of the main hall, following noises. It seemed like a battle was already going on, somewhere.

But the corridor continued ahead, though the noise seemed to come from the very middle of it. Nora scouted forward once again, looked to the left and the right, and came back.

"Where to now?! There are only more corridors, and the noise only becomes more muddled."

Ozpin put a fist to his head, above his closed eyes.

"Let me think."

There was so much noise, and Ozpin looked like he was trying to silence another kind of noise in his head. Ruby had observed him, during their travel and knew something was going on, in the Headmaster’s head, though made of Aura as it were. He had become more lucid after he rested, just like her, but now time was of the essence, Oscar was fighting somewhere and they were all on the edge.

"Where to, Ozpin," asked Ironwood, almost calmly, severe, compared to everyone else. He readied his weapons. "Just give me the word."

Ruby didn’t like the shadow that passed over the General’s eyes, but she didn’t have much time to worry about it, as Ozpin shushed him loudly.

"I said, let me think!"

More noise followed. A loud crash.

And then.

A scream.

It was Oscar’s voice.

Yang yelled in agitation.

  
"Ozpin, PLEASE."

Ozpin’s eyes snapped open.

"That’s it! I remember!"

He turned to the left wall of the corridor and placed his right hand on it.

"Oscar, please, lend me your magic," he whispered.

The noises seemed to stop at that request.

Everyone watched in wonder as the wall started to glow under Ozpin’s palm.

Then, a passage appeared under their eyes, as if it had always been there.

It was a staircase that went down.

"Her dungeons?" Ruby asked.

"Something like that," Ozpin replied.

"Come on!" he then beckoned them. "This one is short, we’re almost there. But be careful not to fall."

They descended in a hurry, in the quiet, now that the noise that had previously guided them had stopped.

And when they finally reached the huge room that was below, they found what they had been looking for.

But they couldn't exactly be relieved.

Oscar was on the ground, squashed beneath the weight of Mercury's metal legs.

Salem and the rest of her cronies were near them, and they all were looking at Ruby and her friends.

They had been expecting them.

Oscar, though clearly in pain, managed to raise his head enough to lock his eyes with Ruby's. Her heart skipped a beat.

They would pay for what they had done to him, but not this time. Now, the priority was taking Oscar and getting the hell away from Salem's territory. Any second they remained there was dangerous: as the tiny shadows of hands crawling, as if they were _alive_ , all over the floor under and around the witch's feet left no doubt about it.

Weiss pointer her rapier in Mercury's direction.

"Get your filthy shoes off him. Nobody steps over a companion of mine and _lives_ ," she spat.

Mercury's grin only got bigger.

"Oh, really, Ice Queen? You talk awfully big for someone in your position."

"We have the upper ground," echoed Emerald. "Don't think you can order us around so easily."

Salem raised her hands.

"Enough, children. Let the adults talk."

She looked at Ozpin menacingly.

"I was expecting you to come eventually. I had imagined you weren't inside your little puppet anymore," she said, kneeling near Oscar and cupping his chin with her ugly fingers.

Ruby strengthened her hold on Crescent Rose. How dare she? The fury she could sense from Ozpin matched her own.

"Give him back," said Ozpin between gritted teeth.

"But there's one thing I can't quite comprehend," the witch said, not even attempting to remove her hand from Oscar's chin. "Why that face?"

"Give. Him. Back."

"Seriously, _Ozpin_ ," the emphasis she put in his name mocking him. "You're getting more pathetic by the century. That puppet is dead. Show me your true face."

Everyone bar Ironwood turned their eyes on Ozpin in concern. Qrow's gaze was especially filled with worry.

"This is my face," Ozpin growled. "I'm not a puppet and neither is Oscar."

Salem rolled his eyes at him, something that made the entire group grow more infuriated.

"Sure. You can play pretend like you always have. You steal the lives of these innocent souls and now you even rob them of their visage-"

Ozpin screamed at the top of his lungs.

" **THIS IS MY FACE.** "

And then stepped forward, immediately followed by Ruby and Qrow, then the rest of the group.

Salem seemed to enjoy that reaction quite a bit. She chuckled to herself, while her henchmen looked at her with amusement. Oscar struggled in her grasp, pained whines escaping his lips. She only squeezed his face more, driving her nails into his skin.

"I am going to kill you for that," said Ozpin, stealing words from Ruby's mouth.

"What a pathetic creature you are," was the witch's only reply. She finally let go of Oscar and stood up again.

"Do you see?" she asked. Ruby felt a shiver down her spine: Salem was looking directly at her. Then, she slowly turned her head, fixing her gaze on each person on her side of the room.

"Your loyalty to those you consider friends is commendable, but ask yourself this: will the person you insist to stick with out of loyalty do the same for you?"

She took a step forward. Ruby had to force herself not to step back reflexively. The tension was high.

"Will this parasite that steals faces," another step forward. "And feeds off the lives of not only those that are unfortunate enough to become his puppets but every other person that comes into his life…"

A third step forward. She was now dangerously close to them. Her cronies, behind her, observed with mixed expressions on their faces. Maybe they were wondering what the hell Salem was attempting to do.

Relatable. Ruby, knuckles white as she desperately held Crescent Rose, every muscle in her body pleading her to flee, was also wondering the very same thing.

"… leave you unharmed as he insists? Will you continue believing his lies?"

She mercifully stopped. Only a couple of more steps and she would have stopped right in front of Ruby.

She heard Blake croak.

"What… are you saying?"

"Dear girl," Salem said, a terrifyingly kind expression on her face. "You, of all people here should understand how much harm this wretch has caused."

She extended her hands like she was inviting them to leap into her arms.

"I'm offering you all the opportunity to reclaim your existence. Join me and be free. We do not need to continue this farce."

The only sound that was heard in response was Cinder Fall's raging voice.

"What?!"

Salem's eye twitched as Cinder was suddenly, violently grabbed by those shadow arms and shoved into the ground, the other villains flinching in surprise and horror.

Salem turned slightly; her face focused entirely on Ruby now.

"This offer is especially valid for you, Silver Eyed girl, but it's open to your friends as well."

She nodded briefly to Oscar, before returning to Ruby.

"And to your little friend. Now that he's free from that parasite, I don't wish him any harm. Join me and you will achieve your true potential. You will live in peace under my rule. You won't have to worry about war, or the Gods, ever again."

Nobody spoke for a while. Ruby and her friends were frozen in terror, the bad guys too. Cinder was struggling against the dark appendages keeping her down. Ozpin was especially anxious.

"No."

That word was first spoken by James Ironwood.

Salem looked like she was holding back a laugh. The general slowly pointed her weapons at her.

"I'm here to take revenge for Atlas and for myself."

"How amusing, General," she said. "Can't you see? He's the reason Atlas fell. Not me."

" _I'm_ the reason Atlas fell," Ironwood replied, his voice shaking. "But you have a part in that, too. I can't kill you, but I will kill myself if it means setting back your plans!"

Qrow put a hand on James's shoulder. He shoved it away.

"Nobody is gonna die, today," said Qrow. "I'll make sure my bad luck only befalls _them_."

Salem's amusement was gradually falling.

"Really, little bird? After this wretch betrayed you?"

Harbinger was set in scythe mode.

"I'm standing by him."

"Really," Salem's laugh was devoid of mirth. "How touching."

"And so are we," said Yang.

"Oscar is our friend and companion," intervened Jaune. "But so is Ozpin."

Ozpin dropped his guard just to look at all of them, a painful look of disbelief in his eyes.

"Everyone…"

And Ruby, in that moment, looked at Oscar, and Oscar looked at her back. Their eyes interlocked and she understood that he was thinking about what she was thinking.

"You're all as pathetic as him," Salem sighed. "And here I hoped we would reach an understanding." She freed Cinder from the dark arms. Ruby watched her stumble back on her feet, her eyes engulfing in flames.

"Do not kill the Silver Eyed girl," Salem said. "I still have a use for her."

Ruby gritted her teeth.

"Salem," she said, fury starting to boil inside of her. "I'm not some chess piece that you can acquire or discard as you please."

"Dear girl," Salem said back. "You can still join me willingly. Or, if you prefer, I can force you to join me, like your mother."

But before that sentence even ended, Ruby used her Semblance, leaping forward, in Oscar's direction.

At the same instant, Oscar, with something that Ruby's mind could barely register as _magic_ in the heat of the moment, also leaped forward, the power that surged from him throwing Mercury off.

Their two forces met.

Before hell could break loose, before the two parties started to fight, Ruby's heart flooded with affection, as she held the exhausted boy in her arms, both falling to the ground.

She whispered a promise to him, and to herself.

"We're gonna get you home."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had said that this chapter was gonna be long.
> 
> Well, it turns out I added even more things, so I split the original chapter in two! See you next time!


End file.
